[Shakespeare, William]. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS AND LEGAL INSTRUMENTS UNDER THE HAND AND SEAL OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: Including the Tragedy of King Lear and a Small Fragment of Hamlet, From the Original Mss. In the Possession of Samuel Ireland, of Norfolk Street. London: Printed by Copper and Graham… Published by Mr. Egerton, Whitehall; Messrs. White… 1796. A plate list from another source is bound in between Subscriber’s list and Preface. That extraneous plate list is from [Boydell’s Shakespeare, 9 Vols, 1791-1802]. Preface page 9 has an old hand correction. [Possibly by the printer, possibly by an early owner. Originally printed as “…It may not be improper to add, that in the paper, on which this Play is written, more than twenty different water marks appear.” Corrected to read “…more than twenty water marks appear, four of which, only, are differently framed.”] 26 engravings (listed as 22 items on plate list): 6 engravings on text pages & 20 plates. [The 20 plates are techincally 20 engravings on 19 plates, of which 1 is double-sided and 18 are single-sided.] (“Portrait inclosed to the same” is on the double-sided plate’s recto and “Reverse of ditto” is on the verso. The 2 sides of the double-sided plate constitute the 11th-12th items listed on the plate list. In no other case is a plate double-sided, although in 3 instances, a series of 2 consecutive plates occupies a single line of the plate list: “Profession of Faith” and “Bassamio and Shylock” are each listed as a single plate, but each is actually 2 separate consecutive plates. King Lear is actually 3 plates, facing pages [1], 3, and 107 of King Lear. The last plate listed is the frontis for Hamlet. Many of the first 22 engravings [the first 20 items on the plate list] are accompanied by a single page of text with a blank verso, although multiple pages of text and other variations occur. Text to accompany “Portrait inclosed to the same” and “Reverse on ditto” is either lacking or not issued— the portrait and the illustration on its verso would probably not require text. Most of the other engravings in the book depict documents, although “Bassamio and Shylock” were accompanied by text.) Recased with cloth, preserving earlier paper-covered boards with a printed front cover label that reads: “Ireland’s Shakespeare. 1796.” The front cover label, like the marbled paper covers, is toned, and the front cover label might have been clipped from the half title leaf (which was issued by the printer, but would otherwise be lacking in this volume). Covers frayed at edges and rounded at corners, surface scuffed and stained. Moderate foxing throughout. Sold with all faults. 3 of the engravings are partly hand-colored. 2nd edition (1st trade edition) of William Ireland’s forgeries. (The first edition was the limited edition, also issued in 1796.) William Henry Ireland confessed his forgeries in 1796, absolving his father. In 1800 he published an account in his "Confessions..." In 1795, when the papers had been placed on exhibition, three prominent Shakespeare scholars perceived the deception. Malone published a decisive pamphlet in 1796.